Accusations on Rafale deal unfounded: Government

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The government has termed the opposition's allegations on Rafale fighter jet deal as "unfounded".

The defence ministry, in a statement, said that unfounded allegations are being made regarding the 2016 Inter-Governmental Agreement to procure 36 Rafale aircraft in fly-away condition from France.

The statement further stated that the approximate acquisition cost of the Rafale aircraft has already been provided to the Parliament.

Provision of exact item-wise cost and other information will reveal, inter alia, details regarding the various customizations and weapons systems specially designed to augment the effectiveness and lethality of the assets, impact country's military preparedness and compromise the national security.

Such details would also come under the ambit of the security agreement signed in 2008.

Thus, in not revealing the item-wise details of the contract, the government is merely following in letter and spirit the confidentiality provisions of a bilateral India-France Agreement of 2008 signed by the previous government.

It also asserted that the present NDA government completed the negotiations in just one year.